There’s a vast landscape of valuable but unconventional assets out there, but how do you find them, filter them, and properly value them? What frameworks can you use to understand them and how can you integrate them into a portfolio? Jeff Collins of Cloverlay, a seasoned investor in niche assets for decades, loves to explore these esoteric and overlooked opportunities. We delve into various topics, including litigation finance, data centers, the intellectual property behind Care Bears, refurbishing cargo planes, purchasing whiskey barrels, and modeling future revenues for Phantom of the Opera. Jeff shares his insights on how he selects these assets, mobilizes capital to catalyze their growth, and defines their exit strategies.

Cloverlay is located in Pennsylvania and currently manages about $2 billion. As the Managing Partner, Jeff Collins oversees the firm's investment strategy and serves on its Investment Committee. Jeff founded Cloverlay after a successful career at Morgan Stanley, where he was a Managing Director in the Alternative Investment Partners group. In that role, he was a key member of the Private Markets Investment Committee, responsible for leading complex investments in special situations and buyouts around the world. His background also includes private equity investing at Petra Capital Partners and investment banking at Robertson Stephens. He holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a bachelor's degree in Politics from Princeton University.

Please enjoy my conversation with Jeff Collins.

Circulus Substack: https://circulus.substack.com/

Cloverlay website: https://www.cloverlay.com

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NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it. Just copy the link into an email or text. I appreciate it.

S4E8

©2025 Joe Reilly

Joan Solotar is global head of Blackstone Private Wealth and a member of the firm’s management committee.

Joan’s career tracks the fascinating evolution of Wall Street in the past thirty years. Joan worked on three notable IPOs: DLJ in 1995, Goldman Sachs in 1999, and Blackstone in 2007, and we discuss the strategic reasons behind them. She was tapped to lead the development of Blackstone’s private wealth group, which has since grown to $250 billion. We talk about the state of the industry she covered in the 1990s, the challenge of building a two-sided marketplace in private wealth, Blackstone’s management committee, how they prioritize, and the wisdom of building businesses organically.

Before joining Blackstone in 2007, Ms. Solotar was Head of Equity Research at Bank of America Securities and a highly ranked Institutional Investor All Star financial services analyst at Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Ms. Solotar is a member of the Board of Trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program and East Harlem Scholars Academies. She wrote a Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Truths for Our Daughters,” and co-authored, “Truths from My Daughter.” Ms. Solotar received a BS in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA in Finance from New York University.

Please enjoy my conversation with Joan Solotar.

Circulus Substack: https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it. Just copy the link into an email or text. I appreciate it.

S4E7

©2025 Joe Reilly

Mark Strauch is a founding partner and president of the private equity firm Alpine Investors, known for its unique CEO training program.

With a background in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University and subsequent business studies focused on finance, his career spans operational roles at companies like Electronic Arts, entrepreneurial ventures such as the early cloud concept Desktop.com, and significant leadership challenges, including orchestrating a complex turnaround as CEO of Business Engine.

Mark provides a detailed look into Alpine's operational methodology. He explains the origins and mechanics of the firm's fascinating CEO-in-Residence and CEO-in-Training programs, illustrating how this focus on securing leadership talent prior to acquisition shapes their investment strategy, sourcing advantage, and approach to scaling portfolio companies, exemplified through the creation of the company Ascend. He also discusses the firm's distinct culture, its strategic focus on talent and add-on acquisitions, and offers his views on market dynamics, including exit strategies and the role of AI.

Please enjoy my conversation with Mark Strauch.

Alpine Investors: https://alpineinvestors.com

Circulus Substack: https://circulus.substack.com/

If you like these discussions, please subscribe or leave a review.

NOTE: This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Anything said by the guests or host should not be construed as legal or investment advice. Thanks for listening.

Joe Reilly is the head of Circulus Group, a family office network, and the host of The Inheritance Podcast.

FOLLOW JOE: https://twitter.com/joereillyjr

WEBSITE: https://circulus.substack.com/

INHERITANCE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inheritance-podcast/id1644964

If you like this show, do me a favor and send it to someone you think would enjoy it. Just copy the link into an email or text. I appreciate it.

S4E6

©2025 Joe Reilly